Oxbow Partners is a rapidly growing strategy consultancy for the insurance industry. We advise senior leaders at some of the world’s leading (re)insurers, brokers and investors on a wide range of topics critical to their short-term and long-term success. We work on strategy, operations, technology, transformation and due diligence across reinsurance, Lloyd’s and Specialty, and UK&I retail insurance.
Our clients are generally C-suite executives, and we are long-term trusted advisors to many of them. We are based in London, but our engagements take our teams around the world to places like Bermuda, Zurich, Munich and Dublin. Often our clients ask us to venture into new areas as they value our insight, ability to get to grips with new topics quickly, and working style.
EXAMPLE ENGAGEMENTS
Supported Tesco Bank’s strategic transformation
Tesco is one of the UK’s best-known brands. Tesco also offers financial services including insurance through Tesco Bank. We helped Tesco work out how to make its insurance “more Tesco” through a range of strategy projects, culminating in a big business transformation. You can read a case study here.
Developed a follow-only strategy
Many risks in the commercial insurance market are “syndicated”, which means that the risk is shared by a group of insurers. We helped the CEO of a well-known insurer work out a strategy for following efficiently – balancing the need to be efficient with the need to understand their portfolio.
Designed an FS operating model for a leading retail brand
Our client is a prominent UK retail brand. The client was undergoing a strategic reorientation of their retail financial services business and asked Oxbow Partners to advise on how to set up their insurance operating model optimally. We were then asked to support on the broader retail financial services set-up.
Built a technology operating model
A large reinsurer had developed a proprietary technology platform but found the technology team had become detached from the underwriting team as the business had scaled. We supported the business to build a better technology operating model, which was subsequently implemented, connecting IT with the business.
Transformed an underwriting organisation
A leading reinsurer wanted to reinvent their underwriting organisation to eliminate current pain points and harness future opportunities in digital. We supported the client through a multi-year transformation programme that addressed both soft and hard aspects of their operating model design.
Advised a private equity firm
Our client is a leading UK mid-market investor. We were engaged to provide commercial and technology due diligence on a technology-enabled UK distribution asset. Our team of experts applied Oxbow Partners’ structured approach to diligence and were able to support a successful investment.
WHAT’S INSURANCE ALL ABOUT
Confused by those projects? Here’s what insurance is all about.
The retail insurance market is what most people see – insuring cars and homes and sometimes mobile phones, boats and other things in your life. In fact, you might insure your life too. In the retail market, companies are generally local, or local entities that are part of large international groups. In this part of the market, companies are trying to find an “edge” in a massive, highly commoditised market, whilst simultaneously working out what changes to, say, automotive technology means for the future of their core product.
Businesses have to buy insurance too. Commercial insurers provide insurance for everything from shops to solar farms and banks. In this market, insurance is provided by local companies, global players and the Lloyd’s of London market. Leading insurers in this part of the market are brilliant at understanding and quantifying the unique exposures that their clients face and building optimised portfolios of risks.
Because insurance touches every industry in every country, our work takes us into lots of different industries. Our teams have learnt about everything from cross-border e-commerce in New Zealand to farming in Ireland and construction in Florida.
Reinsurers provide insurance to insurance companies. Why is that needed?
Insurance works on the basis that bad things don’t generally all happen at once. For example, someone might crash their car this year, but is unlikely to crash it every year.
But sometimes things do all happen at once. For example, there could be a flood or a hurricane in which lots of houses, cars, shops, solar farms or aeroplanes get damaged or destroyed. Or a single loss could be much bigger than expected. In 2012 a car careered off a motorway bridge and onto a railway line, where it was hit by a train that just happened to be passing. The train then derailed and was hit by a freight train coming the other way. The combined claim was well into double digit millions of pounds – an amount that no insurance company could bear by itself, which is why they also buy insurance (called reinsurance).
Reinsurance is a global game with centres in London, Munich, Zurich and Bermuda.
The insurance industry is vast and complicated. The industry employs people who are great at maths to help with risk analysis and pricing, creatives to help with marketing, relationship managers for corporate sales, technologists and data scientists, project managers and much more. This is reflected in our varied project portfolio – no two projects are the same.
MEET SOME OF OUR CONSULTANTS
WHAT YOU WILL DO
You will divide your time at Oxbow Partners across three activities.
You’ll spend most of your time executing client projects, typically working with two to five other members of the Oxbow Partners team. In your first few projects you might be asked to research particular topics or build a financial projection model. You’ll always be asked to present your findings to your manager, team or client. As you get more senior, you’ll take on more and more responsibility. You’ll be based in our London office, but you could find yourself working somewhere like Bermuda, Zurich, Munich or Dublin.
You’ll probably also want to spend time on some of our products like Market Intelligence. On Market Intelligence you could find yourself writing in-depth research notes on a topic that you’ve pitched.
Finally, you’ll spend time doing business development. This could be writing proposals, articles and reports on topics that maintain our reputation as thought leaders in the industry, or you could help with activities such as recruitment, managing relationships with the teams we sponsor, or running our Fun Committee.
WHAT WE LOOK FOR
Our team has a broad range of backgrounds and interests, but we have two things in common.
First, nobody expected to go into insurance when they were at university but stumbled into the industry and has found it to be a huge, complex and fascinating space.
Second, every member of our team is an outperformer, always striving to be the best. They have shown this by attending a top university, playing sport to a high level or mastering a skill like singing in a choir or learning a language.
At interview we like hearing about the knocks people have taken and how they’ve bounced back because success is rarely gained without some bumps.
But we do not want robots and we certainly don’t want egos. We are a close-knit team where everyone is expected to support each other. There is no need or tolerance for sharp elbows.
Successful candidates are therefore sharp thinkers, have interests outside of work, enjoy being successful and love working in a team. We hire from all degree subjects. Insurance knowledge is not expected.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Round 1:
CV and competency interview and a brief verbal case study (30 minutes)
Interview with Capua, our external graduate recruitment company, to discuss your motivations and experiences and attributes and test your problem solving and analytical skills.
Round 2:
CV and competency interview with a short case study (60 minutes) followed by Business case study (60 minutes)
You will meet two of our managers over the two interviews. In the first interview you will be asked about yourself, your motivations and experiences, similar to Round 1. You will also be asked a series of questions to assess whether or not you have the competencies we look for in a consultant.
For the business case study, you will be immersed into a client scenario and provided with data. You’ll need to work through some analysis and make recommendations on what the client should do. You will be asked to prepare some written material to present during the interview. You do not need to prepare in advance or have any technical knowledge, but we recommend you practice doing consulting case studies.
Round 3:
Final interview (60 minutes)
Final interview with either a Principal or Partner. There is no fixed format to this interview but it is likely to range from competency questions, a short case study to discussing your interests. If this interview is with a Principal there may be a short follow-up call with a Partner.
We welcome applications from international students who are eligible for a post-study work permit after graduation.
Please send your CV to Capua [email protected]
APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN
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